Return To School

Today is the big day for Carroll County public school students, as they return to the classrooms for another year of readin', writin' and 'rithmetic.There was no mistaking it, as children of all ages could be seen standing on corners waiting for the bus to come.It is always amazing to me to watch the metamorphosis that takes place with children as the school year goes from beginning to end.On the first day, their faces perk with smiles and excitement. But as the year goes by, the bright looks give way to the question, "How many more days of school?"

A year ago, the Maryland State Board of Education upheld a Howard County school board request to oust fellow member Allen Dyer - and it didn't matter that the Ellicott City resident's term had long since expired. The board's decision culminated a protracted battle between Dyer and fellow board members and marked what many believe was the first time in state history an elected school board member was ordered to vacate his seat. This week Dyer took a step closer to staging a dramatic return.

One by one, 14 young boys came forward and signed a piece of paper -- the paper they hope will change how people perceive them and how they perceive themselves.The boys, all of whom have either been suspended or expelled from county schools for fighting, signed an agreement Wednesday night at Mount Moriah A.M.E. Church acknowledging their past behavior and promising that fighting would not be a part of their future."What happened shouldn't have really happened," said 15-year-old Teon Hall.

Five months after being suspended from the University of Maryland following a confrontation with police, Terps running back Wes Brown has met the necessary requirements for readmission to the school and is expected to re-enroll for the spring semester, his attorney said Thursday night. "The same people that suspended him have basically cleared him to come back," Jason Shapiro, his attorney, said. "He's in, for all intents and purposes. He needs to dot some I's and cross some T's, for administrative reasons.

Jack R. O'Neill,53, the judge who 10 years ago allowed AIDS victim Ryan White to return to school, died Wednesday of injuries sustained in an automobile accident a day earlier in Frankfort, Ind. His car veered across a road and struck a tree, and the front section burst into flames.Judge O'Neill dissolved a temporary injunction banning Ryan from attending classes at Western Middle School in Russiaville, Ind., in 1986. Ryan, a hemophiliac who contracted acquired immune deficiency syndrome through a blood transfusion in 1984, died in 1990 at age 18.

Forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who declared for the NBA draft earlier this month, reportedly will hold a news conference today to announce plans to return to the University of California.ESPN and KNBR Radio in San Francisco reported that the likely lottery pick will spurn the NBA and return to school.Abdur-Rahim, 6 feet 10 and 225 pounds, was the first freshman to be named Pacific-10 Player of the Year after leading the Golden Bears in scoring this season with 21.6 points a game. He averaged 8.7 rebounds.

THE ISSUE: SCHOOL SYSTEM OMBUDSMAN Robin Shell, the Howard County school systems first ombudsman, starts her first full year tomorrow, when students return to school. Shell was hired in January to address concerns and questions from parents, students, teachers and the community. Since then, she has tackled issues including bullying, student suspensions and other classroom and student issues. Do you think the school systems ombudsman is an effective and useful resource for the community?

All sixth-grade boys at Hampstead Hill Middle School -- more than 100 of them -- were suspended yesterday after a disruption that followed a fight between two of them.But the mass suspension ordered by an assistant principal was criticized last night by Dr. Walter G. Amprey, the Baltimore city school superintendent, who urged that all students return to school today.Dr. Amprey said the fight involved two sixth-grade boys, one of whom apparently had a knife but did not use it.The fight was broken up by the school staff, but the majority of the boys in the sixth grade were disruptive when they returned to classrooms, and that prompted the suspensions.

Fewer students have enrolled at Anne Arundel Community College this year than last, but school officials say they are not worried."It's not a panic situation for us," said Leonard Mancini, dean of student services. "It's happening, and we need to do some things about it."Figures released by the school Friday show that enrollment dropped 5.1 percent, from 11,890 last fall to 11,278 this year.Much of the decline stems from an 8.2 percent decrease in part-time students, caused in part because of an 11.3 percent decline in part-time evening students.

Former Loyola Maryland All-American and current professional player P.T. Ricci has been named the Greyhounds director of men's lacrosse operations, head coach Charley Toomey announced Thursday. Ricci was a four-year letter-winner for Loyola from 2006 to 2009 and earned United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-America honors as a senior long-stick midfielder. He succeeds former Loyola Maryland player Steve Layne , who joined Richmond in May as an assistant coach heading into its inaugural season in Division I. Ricci has been a standout defender in Major League Lacrosse, winning titles with the Washington Bayhawks (2010)

Going back to school, particularly if it's a new school, can be a daunting time for kids and their parents. There's a lot to consider, from sleep schedules to proper nutrition and immunizations. Much can be accomplished by establishing good habits, says Dr. Julie Yeh, a pediatrician at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, who answered questions about handling the coming school year. How do I get my child off a summer sleep schedule and back to a school schedule? How much sleep does a child need for school, and does it vary by age?

Some students got off the buses, their eyes filled with apprehension, and were guided into the soaring atrium of West Towson Elementary, a school so new it doesn't have a single scuffed floor. Others ran confidently along, calling out the name of their teacher and the location of their classroom. The long-awaited first day of school arrived Monday as some students started the year in new state-of-the-art buildings like West Towson in Baltimore County. The city opened its first new school building since 1998, Violetville Elementary in Southwest Baltimore.

Quentin Tokar will not be rejoining his classmates Monday on the first day of school at Thurmont Elementary. He's still recovering after being stabbed by a stingray's barb in a freak accident. But when he gets back, he'll have quite a story to tell. The 10-year-old fifth-grader will remain at home recovering from the injury he suffered while on his family vacation in North Carolina's Outer Banks last week. Quentin was released from Johns Hopkins Children's Center last Saturday, said his mother, Candace Tokar.

These days, Cameron Brown, a starting guard at Goucher, embraces the same routine that drove him away from college life two years ago. On most mornings, the Owings Mills resident makes the 15-minute commute, takes two classes, studies for 2 1/2 hours and then heads to basketball practice. But unpredictability was the norm - as well as the attraction -after Brown left school for 17 months to become a patrol officer for the Baltimore County Police Department. For much of his eight-month stint responding to calls to the Wilkins Precinct, that's the way he liked it. "I wanted a job that provided a [different challenge]

After a rainy weekend, organizers of the Maryland State Fair expect to be disappointed when they get a finally attendance tally for this year's event. "It's not going to be a good year," said Max Mosner, the event's general manager, who expects attendance to be down compared with previous years. He estimated that about 350,000 people attended the fair from Aug. 24 to Sept. 4 at the state fairgrounds in Timonium. "In a good year we have about 450,000 people," he said. Last year, 424,000 people attended, and the year before, 489,000 attended.

When Dr. Bijon Bahmanyar invites Laekeka Wesley and Megan Ebersole to his annual party this spring, the two Southern seniors will accept with pleasure.Bahmanyar works in the shock trauma unit at Prince George's County Hospital and stages the party for his survivors. Wesley and Ebersole are among them.On Jan. 12, while driving home after basketball practice, Wesley, Southern's leading scorer and rebounder, and Ebersole, a key reserve, were nearly killed. The basketball season ended that night for both girls.

Nineteen-year-old Michelle Hamby says she's the happiest person in the world -- and she has reason to be.On Thursday, she will graduate from Atholton High School, having finished a five-year roller coaster period in which she dropped out of school, turned for a time to marijuana and alcohol, and returned to work so hard that she made the honor roll 10 of the last 12 quarters.She is one of about 2,000 high school seniors who will graduate from Howard County schools in a series of nine commencement ceremonies beginning today and concluding Friday.

It shouldn't take long for new Bel Air football coach Tony Belcastro to get acclimated to the school. After all, he served as an assistant coach with the Bel Air junior varsity and varsity and also played for the Bobcats under former coach Bruce Riley, who stepped down after the 2005 season. "He was the starting quarterback for us when I first took over the program in 1993 and 1994, and he showed a lot of the characteristics of being a field leader," Riley said. "It's just been really gratifying because he was part of our program.

Amid a flurry of protests of censorship from across the country, Carroll County's school superintendent said yesterday that he is struggling with whether to keep a popular book for teens out of the district's libraries or to return it to the bookshelves. Superintendent Charles I. Ecker said yesterday that he will decide next week the fate of Carolyn Mackler's The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things. "I'm agonizing over the decision. You always question yourself," Ecker said. "I'm not leaning in any direction.